Pregnancy often gets referred to as “the most natural thing in the world” and becomes a stage required by society in any woman’s life. In fact, if a person with working ovaries chooses not to have children, they go so against the expectations of their gender that they will be labeled as strange, selfish, or even suffering from tokophobia: the fear of pregnancy. Now any pregnancy will have some anxieties and discomfort but using ‘phobia’ indicates that a woman who chooses not to get pregnant has an exaggerated and unrealistic fear when in reality there are several reasons to not want kids.
When a woman goes against their supposed natural calling to become a mother, then everyone from loved ones to medical professionals or politicians needs to step in and tell her why she’s wrong. With the world premiere of CLOCK at the Overlook Film Festival, director Alexis Jacknow looks at the loss of self when a woman is no longer viewed as a person, but as a possible baby-making machine with a broken biological clock.
For a movie revolving around the anxiety of making children, Jacknow chooses an odd location for us to witness the suicide of a would-be mother: a playground. The playground represents childhood and helps form so many cheerful memories within the formidable years of a person’s life. But that is during the daytime. At night seeing the empty equipment, hearing the creaking swings, and just witnessing a normally pleasant place connected with children now completely void of life creates a feeling of abject terror. This brief cold opening sets the stage tonally but also introduces the viewer to themes exploring how closely children and terror become associated.
Childbirth and women exist so synonymously with each other, often the assumption arises that women without children must be sad, alone, and even broken. Ella Patel (Dianna Agron) is 37 going on 38, has a loving marriage, a successful career, and loads of hobbies, but regardless of what she thinks is best for her, her friends, family, and doctors all pressure her to have children. Despite telling people she feels no need to procreate, everyone dismisses her thoughts and insists she must start having babies. Now! People in her life start assuming Ella has nothing to fill her day. Or that she is letting down her ancestors who survived the camps by not carrying on their lineage.
Not only does the film heavily focus on the pressures society places on women to give birth, but + also discusses intergenerational trauma. As a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, Ella feels guilt for not continuing on her family line as she betrays every one of her ancestors who fought to survive. But at the same time, she fears bringing a child into a world that allows genocide to exist. Even though it takes two to make a baby, women still receive the brunt of the ‘baby talk.’ At a Sabbat dinner with her husband Aiden (Jay Ali) and her father Joseph (Saul Rubinek), Ella’s father puts all the pressure of grandchildren on his daughter. He behaves as if Ella is somehow choosing to not spontaneously self-inseminate herself and ignores the fact her husband holds just as much say in the manner.
There are numerous people (mostly women) in Ella’s life, and they all believe a woman not wanting a baby just needs to be reminded she is a woman. This misguided and childless person just needs to be reminded her mother gave birth to her. If all this excessive nagging and pressuring doesn’t work, then medical intervention is the only solution. Due to the pressures, Ella (contrary to her character) checks herself into a clinic that claims to be able to “fix” her broken clock. The clinic involves a 10-day hormone regimen paired with cognitive behavioral therapy. Because here, the medical professionals compare the decision to not have children to a chemical imbalance in the brain.
So now, Ella becomes chemically and emotionally altered in order to fit standards she has no desire to fulfill. With Melora Hardin (“The Office”) as the conniving head of the clinic, Dr. Elizabeth Simmons, Ella becomes further dragged into the baby-crazy world (which turns out not to be all cuteness and Pampers). Instead, CLOCK winds up the audience for an intense journey through female bodily autonomy and Jacknow shows how pregnancy is the ultimate real-life body horror.
CLOCK will debut exclusively on Hulu on April 28 and Disney+ internationally at a later date.
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